Article retaining rack



June 20, 1967 c. E. Z-IDEK ARTICLE RETAINING RACK Filed March 10, 1965INVENTOQ CHARLES E. ZIDEK United States Patent 3,326,388 ARTICLERETAINING RACK Charles E. Zidek, 142 Akenside Road, Riverside, Ill.60546 Filed Mar. 10, 1965, Ser. No. 438,569 1 Claim. (Cl. 21151) Thisinvention relates to article retaining racks, and more particularly tosuch racks having relatively movable supporting and gripping partsresiliently biased to positions for gripping supported and retainedarticles therebetween.

Although the article retaining racks contemplated by this invention arenot necessarily limited to any particular size or proportions, or to theretention of any particular kind or types of articles, the relativelycommon practice of housewives to save grocery bags and pieces ofwrapping paper and the like provides one type of use to which the rackof this invention is well adapted.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an article retainingrack having one normally stationary part adapted to be hung on anupright surface, such as a wall or door, and another part relativelymovable with respect to said one and resiliently biased to a positionfor gripping articles between the parts.

Another object of the invention is to provide an article retaining rackof a structure such that it is adapted to production from a limitednumber of readily formed parts which are easily producible from wirestock.

This invention has for another object the provision of an articleretaining rack wherein a supporting part has portions in angularrelationship to one another, a gripping part hingedly connected to oneportion of the supporting part in spaced relationship to the otherportion thereof, and a coil spring having ends connected to both partsfor biasing the hingedly connected parts toward one another about theaxis of the hinge connection.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent from thefollowing detailed description of a preferred embodiment when takentogether with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an article retaining rack which isillustrative of a preferred embodiment of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the article retaining rack shownin FIGURE 1, and depicts the parts in positions which might be assumedin use while having articles retained therein;

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE 2, but wherein dotted linesillustrate parts of the structure at intermediate stages of theproduction of the rack;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary front elevational view depicting a detail of aportion of the structure shown in the aforementioned figures.

Considered generally, the exemplary embodiment of my invention which isdisclosed herein for illustrative purposes constitutes an articleretaining rack which includes a supporting part 12 and a gripping part13 which are hingedly connected together for movement relative to oneanother, and have a torsion spring 14 which biases the top portions ofthe supporting and gripping parts toward one another.

In order to promote simplicity and low cost production, each of theparts of the disclosed article retaining rack is made up of a relativelysmall number of components, as many as possible of which are alike andwhich are readily assemblable. The supporting part 12 includes likepieces 15, 16 and 17 which are each, in the present instance, formedfrom single pieces of wire stock. In my preferred manner of assembly,each of the like pieces 15, 16 and 17 is initially formed in a U-shapehaving substantially parallel side portions 18 and 19 adjoined throughan integral connecting portion 20. The pieces 15, 16 and 17 are securedtogether in spaced and substantially parallel relationship to oneanother by cross pieces 22, 23 and 24, as by having the cross piecesspot welded to each of the sides of the pieces 15, 16 and 17 at theirrespective junctures. In my preferred manner of production, the sides,such as 18 and 19 of each of the pieces 15, 16 and 17 remain straightand extend as shown at 18a in FIGURE 3, until after the pieces and crosspieces are assembled and welded together. Then, the sides 18 and 19 ofthe like pieces 15, 16 and 17 are desirably bent simultaneously toprovide portions in right angular relationship to one another and todefine a back portion 25 and a bottom portion 26. For supporting thepart relative to an upright surface, such as a wall or door, supportingelements such as metal washers 27, 28 and 29 are secured to the crosspieces 22 and 23 by welding, so that the cross pieces extend acrossmargins of the washers and the holes in the washers are exposed for theaccompanying of fastening means, such as screws, nails or hooks.

Before the cross piece 24 is secured in place, the torsion spring 14 isplaced thereon, so that it is disposed between the sides 18 and 19 ofthe piece 15. This spring is in the form of a coil having itsconvolutions encompassing an end region of the cross piece 24. Thespring has an extending arm 30 at one end which includes a hook portion32 for engagement with the side 19 of the piece 15. At its other end,the spring 14 has another arm 33 with a hook portion 34 thereon which,in the final assembly is engaged with the gripping part of the rackstructure, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2.

The gripping part 13 embodies two substantially U- shaped pieces 35 and36 of different sizes secured together with substantially straight sideportions 37, 38, 39 and 40 thereof extending in the same generaldirection. The substantially U-shaped piece 35 is of a widthcommensurate with that of the supporting part and has hooked endportions 42 and 43 on the ends of the side portions 37 and 38respectively which are remote from an integral connecting portion 44thereof, which hooked end portions 42 and 43 are engaged with the crosspiece 24 of the supporting part to serve as a hinge connection betweenthe parts and the assembly. As initially formed, the hooked end portions42 and 43 are generally parallel to the side walls 37 and 38, as shownat 42a in FIGURE 3, until after the gripping part has been assembledwith the supporting part, whereupon the ends of the hooked portions arebent toward the side portions 37 and 38 to hold the supporting andgripping parts in their assembled relationship and serve as a hingeconnection therebetween. When the supporting and gripping parts areassembled, the hook portion 34 on the spring 14 is engaged with the sideportion 37 and with the spring stressed to bias the tops of thesupporting and gripping parts toward one another.

The substantially U-shaped piece 36 is narrower than the piece "35 andis disposed at a position relative to the piece 35 in which the sideportions 39 and 40 thereof cross the connecting portion 44 of the piece35, whereupon an integral connecting portion 45 of the piece 36 is inspaced and substantial parallel relationship to the connecting portion44 of the piece 35. A portion 46 of the U-shaped piece 36 which extendsabove the connecting portion 44 of the piece 35 is initially straight,as shown at 46a in FIGURE 3, and is then bent outwardly, so as toproject away from the back portion of the supporting part and serve as ahandle for effecting movements of the gripping part away from thesupporting part and against the biasing force of the spring 14. The endsof the side portions 39 and 40 of the substantially U-shaped piece 36and end regions of the side portions 37 and 38 of the substantially r 3,U-shaped piece 35 are secured together by a cross piece 47 which is likethe cross pieces 22,23 and 24, and which is secured to each of the sideportions by welding.

From the foregoing description and reference to the accompanyingdrawings, it may be readily understood that the article retaining rackdisclosed herein is a relatively rugged and effective structureadaptedto quantity production from relatively few parts of difierent structurewhich can be inexpensively and readily produced from wire or stripstock. Furthermore, the article retaining rack which is herein disclosedis light in weight, neat in appearance and effectively usable forretaining various quantities and sizes of articles;

Although the embodiment illustrated herein is the preferred form of thisinvention, it is understood that the invention may take other forms, andthe scope of this invention, therefore, is not to be limited to theembodiment illustrated, but is to be determined by the appended claim.

I claim:

An article retaining rack comprising, in combination, a supporting partembodying a plurality of like substantially Lshaped pieces having baseand back portions in angular relationship to one another and a pluralityof cross connecting elements secured to each of said pieces for holdingthe pieces in spaced and substantially parallel relationship to oneanother with their respective base and back portions defining angularlyrelated planes, each of said like substantially L-shaped pieces beingformed of wire stock and embodying substantially parallel back and baseportions integrally connected at the tops of the back portions, one ofsaid connecting elements being secured to the base portions of saidpieces at positions remote from the back portions, a gripping parthingedly secured to said one of the connecting elements and embodying aplurality of pieces secured together with side leg portions in generallycoplanar relationship, said side leg portions of each piece beingintegrally connected at one end by an intermediate portion, theintermediate portions of the pieces being of diiferent lengths, and theleg portions of the piece having the shorter intermediate portion beingdisposed to cross the mid-region of the intermediate portion of theother piece, and a coil spring encompassing said one of the connectingelements and having ends engaged with pieces of both the supporting andgripping parts for resiliently biasing the portion of the gripping partremote from said one of the connecting elements toward the back portionof said supporting part.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 182,404 4/ 1958 Dickson 10410,571 9/1889 Beighel 211--51 916,018 3/ 1909 Richard 22425 2,635,7614/1953 Purifoy 211-51 2,994,441 8/1961 Browning 211-177 JOHN PETO,Primary Examiner.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Examiner.

K. J. WINGERT, Assistant Examiner.

